Collaborative Research: NRI: Shape-Based Remote Manipulation

远程存在系统由连接到化身机器人的操作员界面组成，它承诺了跨越距离障碍将人们联系起来的新方法。 例如，该技术将使医生能够将身体检查纳入远程医疗，并使家庭能够在家中照顾年老的亲属。然而，由于有限的触觉能力，目前的系统使用起来可能缓慢且令人沮丧：操作员无法轻松地感觉到远程对象，就好像它们在自己手中一样。 为了解决这一问题，将开发一种新的远程操纵模式，即基于形状的远程操纵（SBRM）。 SBRM集成了新颖的多指触觉设备与抓取物体的数学模型，以实现灵巧的手遥操作。 除了开发新技术外，该项目还将在合作大学内外产生教育影响。研究人员将招募和培训大多数BIPOC（黑人，土著人和有色人种）研究生。 此外，研究小组将设计和主办一个远程触摸展览，名为“形状光束体验”，学生在挑战者学习中心在塔拉哈西，佛罗里达，可以与学生在物理互动科学和工业博物馆在芝加哥，伊利诺伊州。基于形状的远程操纵（SBRM）的目标是克服一个根本问题，在远程操纵，即面对通信延迟时稳定性/鲁棒性与性能之间的折衷。 它通过RGB-D数据、几何模型、顺应性机器人手和手臂以及双边控制的新颖集成，沿着多指触觉反馈和基于形状的控制的创新来实现这一目标。 该项目将分四个部分执行。 首先，将开发一个最先进的远程操作测试平台，跨越两个相距近1,000英里的大学校园。 其次，将开发用于获得关于化身环境中的对象的语义、几何和物理信息的技术。 第三，将创建一个新颖的形状界面，允许操作员抓住，感觉和操纵虚拟物体。 第四，将开发一套基于形状的控制技术，以协调操作员和化身的灵活性。 该项目将导致新的知识的因素影响远程在手的灵活性，特别是基于形状的触觉信息的作用。 工作的一个方面将是一个新的多手指触觉接口，约束的手指非常刚性的虚拟表面，使迄今为止不可行的研究触觉感知和灵巧的操作的形状信息。 这项工作的另一个方面将是一种新的方法，以远程操纵的基础上微分几何，旨在结合联合收割机的鲁棒性的好处，单边控制与性能的好处bilateralcontrol.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Remote presence systems, consisting of operator interfaces coupled to avatar robots, promise new ways of connecting people across the barrier of distance. For example, the technology will enable physicians to incorporate physical examinations into telehealth, and families to care for elderly relatives as they age in place. Present systems, however, can be slow and frustrating to use due to limited haptic capabilities: operators cannot easily feel remote objects as if they were in their own hands. To address this, a new paradigm in telemanipulation, Shape-Based Remote Manipulation (SBRM), will be developed. SBRM integrates novel multi-finger haptic devices with mathematical models of grasped objects to enable dexterous in-hand telemanipulation. In addition to developing novel technology, this project will also make an educational impact both within and outside the partner universities. The investigators will recruit and train a majority BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) group of graduate students on this research. Additionally, the research team will design and host a tele-touch exhibit to be called “The Shape Beaming Experience” where students at The Challenger Learning Center in Tallahassee, Florida, can physically interact with students at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.The goal of Shape-Based Remote Manipulation (SBRM) is to overcome a fundamental issue in telemanipulation, namely the trade-off between stability/robustness and performance in the face of communication latencies. It accomplishes this through a novel integration of RGB-D data, geometric models, compliant robotic hands and arms, and bilateral control, along with innovations in multi-finger haptic feedback and shape-based controls. The project will be executed in four parts. First, a state-of-the-art remote manipulation testbed will be developed spanning two university campuses nearly 1,000 miles apart. Second, techniques for obtaining semantic, geometric, and physical information about objects in the avatar's environment will be developed. Third, a novel Shape Interface will be created, allowing operators to grasp, feel and manipulate virtual objects. Fourth, a set of shape-based control techniques that coordinate operator and avatar dexterity will be developed. The project will lead to new knowledge about the factors impacting remote in-hand dexterity, especially the role of shape-based haptic information. One aspect of the work will be a novel multi-finger haptic interface that constrains the fingers to extremely rigid virtual surfaces, enabling heretofore infeasible studies of shape information in haptic perception and dexterous manipulation. Another aspect of the work will be a new approach to telemanipulation based on differential geometry that aims to combine the robustness benefits of unilateral control with the performance benefits of bilateral control.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.